A sound cut through her thoughts.
A whisper.A hiss.The barest disturbance of air.
Run.
She turned toward the window, and an arrow aimed for her face.
A hand grabbed her, forcing her back as the thing lodged itself into Enoch's arm.
He cried out, stumbling back, blood staining his robes.
"Get down!"he gasped.
Azul did not move.
She looked past him, through the window, into the trees.She saw an assailant nock another arrow and aim it between her eyes.
The death of which whom shall bring.
She recalled her sister's ritual, the circle, and the blood that flowed freely from her ears.
She remembered running out with her bleeding body, running in search of help.
She remembered her sister reassuring her, telling her it worked, the ritual.
She remembered her death at Somadina’s hand, and she remembered the light in the room.
A burning sensation branded her back, and Azul hissed.A hand grabbed hers, pulling her to the floor.
The arrow shot past, embedding in the shelf.
“Khatun!”Enoch tried to snap her out of her trance.
Azul blinked; she felt like she was underwater.Nothing quite made sense.
“Enoch,” she eventually said.“I think I understand.”
From the corners of her consciousness, a voice called out to her.One deep and rough, echoing in the depths of her mind as if it had been trying to reach her.
Host… can you hear me?
Chapter 27
IntheGrandCouncilchamber, the atmosphere was electric with this new, volatile energy.
The Elder of Justice entered, his robes still beaded with rain that had begun to fall that evening.
"My lords," he announced, his voice cutting through the tense murmurs."A new matter demands the council’s immediate attention.An anonymous report has been delivered to my office."He paused, letting the silence stretch, ensuring every eye was upon him."It contains grave allegations."
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping to Somadina’s icy mask before landing on no one and everyone.
"The allegations", he said, the words dropping into the quiet like stones, "are against the Second Wife, the Iyom."
Somadina, try all he might, would never find the man his mother loved.Because someone else had found him first, the evidence he wished to snuff out would always remain to haunt him until his death.
The council ended as expected; the Elder of Justice ordered to investigate such egregious accusations.Throughout, Somadina said nothing.The moment the council was suspended, he rose from his seat, neither walking too fast nor too slow, and left with his head held high.
The Igwe’s mood was terrible; a public investigation would only make his heart cold to his mother.Even if she were innocent, now the world would know there was reason enough to doubt her faithfulness.The Iyom would never again be favoured by the Igwe.
